


What You Water, Grows

by ssupernovad



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Planet, Fluff, Gen, Kinda klance?, M/M, Rain, VLD Games 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-25 22:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14987150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssupernovad/pseuds/ssupernovad
Summary: A mission on an alien planet makes an unexpected turn, now the team has to deal with a certain someone’s special request.





	What You Water, Grows

**Author's Note:**

> Go check out my Tumblr: @volkogane  
> This is something for the second round of the VLD Games 2018. I won't stop saying it, so go team yellow!   
> Took some inspiration from a Netflix original series: Altered Carbon, aka one of my favorite series ever.

The castle’s alarms were going off again, the deafening screech of a red signal booms through the wide halls. At the sound, everyone on board immediately stop what they are doing. Shiro wakes up from one of his power naps. Keith puts his blade back in the sheath on his belt. Lance stops talking to the space mice. Pidge and Hunk turn the oven off. They all rush to where they agreed to meet up when something like this is happening — the Control Room.

The five paladins all enter the room in sync. When they get there, the alarms stop, everything going quiet once again. The only thing that could be heard was their own hearts beating in their chests. The alarms always caused a slight panic, though they were quite sure that as long as they had a plan, everything will work out in the end.

“Paladins! Get to your stations!” Allura instructs with hurry. She’s at her work area, a bunch of screens pulled up in front of her. Her fingers click at multiple things frantically, her eyebrows lined with worry. Across the room, Coran’s doing the same thing.

They do what they are told. “What’s going on, Allura?” Shiro asks, bringing up his own screen. Everyone does the same, and they all scan through the information. Their eyes hurriedly flick back and forth.

“We’ve detected Alteans on an alien planet,” Coran says, not losing focus on tapping at buttons on his screen. “And they seem to be in a predicament!”

“They are in huge danger, and they need Voltron’s help.” Allura speaks.

Lance brings up a scan of the planet the Alteans are on. He spins the display around, and his face fills with worry. “Um, Princess? We might have a problem with that.” Lance gulped.

Allura glances back at him. “What is it?”

“Check this out,” Lance swipes his fingers to send the diagram to Allura. The planet floats on her screen. “ _Way_ too many buildings. If we form Voltron, we might trample on the citizens.”

“He’s right. Even with the lions, it’s just going to cause too much damage.” Keith adds.

“Wait, what’s the planet called again?” Pidge inquires. Her glasses seem to be covered in bright light, reflecting from the screen in front of her.

“Planet Mirai,” Coran says. The castle approaches said planet, and with every meter travelled, it seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

Shiro stops and blinks. “Wait, _Mirai_? That’s Japanese for future.”

Hunk gasps loudly. “Woah. It looks just like Earth.”

“Not quite,” Allura speaks. She has relaxed her nerves, but there is still fear that’s eating her inside out. Her eyes are lined with concern for her fellow Alteans. “Planet Mirai is particularly smaller than Earth, just half of its size. Those who live there also don’t need oxygen to stay alive. Though they may look _really_ similar to humans, they are very different in attitude.”

“Hold on, Lance’s right. Voltron can cause mass destruction. Our best bet is to go there without the lions, if we want to bring back the Alteans alive.” Pidge looks over to Allura.

“It might be too dangerous—”

“Allura, it’s our _only_ option.” Keith says sternly.

The Princess tries to think about something else, another way to solve this problem on their hands. But time is running out, and they need to act fast, before it is too late.

“Alright.” Allura breathes in sharply. “What’s the plan, Shiro?”

The black paladin stays silent for a while, his eyes flicking over his screen for one last time. The others listen intently to his orders.

He takes a deep breath.

 

* * *

 

**_“Allura, you fly us in there with the Blue Lion.”_ **

The Blue Lion approaches the planet silently. They’ve transported the cloaking ability from the Green Lion. It may not last _as_ long, but it’s all they’ve got to stay hidden. The planet _is_ smaller than Earth, but it’s heavily crowded. Buildings and structures seem to grow out of the ground—if there still even _is_ a visible ground. There are bridges and pathways connecting everywhere, lights lining the sides of buildings, colors illuminating through windows, silhouettes of hooded figures walking through the dimly lit streets. Hunk was right, it _did_ look like Earth. But there is one thing that you definitely won’t see anywhere on the green and blue planet:

The island that floats in the sky. According to Allura’s searches, the Alteans are high up there. The literal ‘castle in the sky’ is called the Aerium. Excessively guarded, cramped with searchlights to find anyone who dares to enter.

The paladins hold their breaths.

**_“We land as close as we could get to the Aerium without being detected.”_ **

The island in the sky, at a close glance, is resting on a giant cloud. And Lance did not let a second pass before blurting out that it was like a marshmallow. Keith _almost_ whacked him at the back of his head.

Everyone quietly steps out of the lion in a single file line. They’re right at the Aerium’s back entrance, the Blue Lion’s disappearing ability slowly fading away. They need to act fast.

Pidge’s at the edge of the ramp, reaching a foot down and swirling the cloud beneath her. She sighs.

“ _What’s taking so long?”_ Allura whispers from inside the lion.

“ _I’m taking precautions.”_ Pidge replies, before carefully stepping off the ramp and landing on the plush island. Lucky for her, she did not fall through.

The others follow her lead. Shiro’s the last one off, and as his feet are on ‘solid’ ground, the lion’s mouth folds up, and Allura pilots it back to the castle.

**_“You follow my lead. Stay close. Stay quiet. Stay undetected. Keith and Lance, you two take the right entrance. Hunk and Pidge, you’re coming with me at the left entrance.”_ **

**_“Wa-wa-wait, why does Keith have to go with_ ** **me** **_?”_ **

**_“Just shut up and trust him, Lance.”_ **

The two groups split up, sneaking behind rows of bushes to avoid the guards with absurdly bright flashlights. The citizens here _do_ look human, as what Allura had said. But they all seem much taller and thinner, like what humans before have thought of what aliens looked like. One thing’s for sure: they aren’t green.

Keith steps on a twig on accident.

“ _Will you quit it! You’re ruining the mission!”_ Lance tells him off.

 _“Here’s an option, shut your quiznak!”_ Keith called out.

“ _You two, stop bickering for once!”_ Allura’s voice hissed in their ears.

**_“We all enter the Aerium Castle at the same time. Blue and Red, on my signal, stun the guards.”_ **

“ _Take the two on the right, I’ll take the three on the left_.” Keith dictated, clutching the stun gun in his hand.

“ _Don’t tell me what to do.”_ Lance rolls his eyes, aiming for his targets already.

“ _SHUT UP!_ ” everyone else, including Coran, boomed through their comms.

**_“Once the guards are down, Yellow, follow me into the prison. Green, hack in the security systems, open the cells, and we all evacuate them. Quick and swift, in and out.”_ **

Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge appear into view. They double check to see if the guards are going to stay down, and to their comfort, they will. The prison doors open with a tap of Pidge’s finger on her computer, and the team all pile in to rescue the Alteans.

**_“Allura, wait for us in the Blue Lion right where you dropped us off. How many Alteans did you read?”_ **

**_“Four.”_ **

**_“Then we should all fit. Once we all get on, we leave Mirai.”_ **

“ _Paladins, a change of plans.”_ Allura says through the comms. “ _Guards have crowded the back entrance. I’ll be in the Blue Lion_ right _below Aerium. According to the scans, the castle has a transportation system that goes straight through the bottom. No one will see us there.”_

Everyone begins moving. The Alteans seem a little disheveled, shocked as to what has happened to them. Shiro made sure to tell them that the paladins were sent by Princess Allura. They did not speak a single word, they were still pretty stunned.

True to Allura’s words, the floor in the room right behind the prison is the transportation system. According to Pidge, it descends down, further through the clouds. It is used for easy travel from the planet itself to the Aerium.

They all board the platform. Hunk’s comforting the Alteans.

Once they pass a layer of thin clouds, Keith looks over the edge.

“I see the Blue Lion.” he turns to face the rescued prisoners. “A few rules: No cramming onto the ramp. There’s a pretty wide gap between this platform that we’re on and the Blue Lion. The Alteans first, then the paladins will—”

He’s cut short with a drop of water on his nose. Everyone looks at him with confusion, before they all look up towards the Aerium cloud in unison.

A soft drizzle has started.

The platform stops right where the Blue Lion is, Shiro and Keith help the Alteans get on. They are followed by Pidge, then Hunk, then Shiro, then Keith, then Lance.

... _then Lance?_

Keith looks back.

Just as what he thought, Lance is still on the platform, looking up with eyes closed. His arms are outstretched to his sides, the palms of his hands facing up to catch the rain. He’s got a wide smile on his face.

And when Keith says wide, he means it.

The boy’s in utter bliss.

“Lance? Time to go.” Keith says, trying his best not to ruin Lance’s reunion with the rain, but completely fails.

Lance shakes his head lightly. “Nah, you guys go ahead. I’ll stay here.”

“Don’t be stupid, Lance, I—”

“I’m not being stupid, it’s just… I miss the rain _so_ much. You don’t even know how much this means to me right now.”

Keith swears under his breath. He turns to look at Pidge. “How long does this platform stay down here?”

Pidge clicks away on her computer. “I would say about five more doboshes Why?”

Keith looks back at Lance. He can’t possibly take away this chance from him. Lance will hate him _even_ more, like he hasn’t already. At that moment, he can’t do anything but watch the boy as his arms drop to his sides, and he sits cross-legged on the platform. The rain is seeping in through his armor, through his skin. The cold water goes straight through his muscles and bones and nerves, and to his heart. It doesn’t bother him, though. The rain hasn’t done that to him before. It made him feel complete. That void he had? It’s now filled. He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“Keith, you coming?” Shiro asks, a hand out ready to help.

“Five more doboshes.” he answers, before stepping off the lion’s ramp and onto the platform once again, striding towards Lance before taking a seat next to him, letting himself be engulfed with the promise of rain. And maybe, just maybe, the rainbow that will come after.


End file.
